Overview
- With snow cover and frozen ground, more winter birds are turning up at feeders, NABU reports.
- Offer fat-rich seed mixes and sunflower seeds, with soft foods like raisins, apples and oats on the ground for robins and thrushes.
- Use covered silos or weather-sheltered dispensers, clean with hot water, and remove wet leftovers to curb disease, with Vier Pfoten recommending weekly scrubs and daily checks.
- Avoid bread and plastic-net suet balls, and position feeding stations away from windows and out of reach of cats.
- Feeding foxes, wild boar and deer is prohibited under German state hunting laws, and research on long-term benefits of bird feeding remains mixed.